Kharé - Cityport of Traps (book)
For the city after which the book is named please see 'Kharé - Cityport of Traps.'' ''Kharé - Cityport of Traps'' is a single-player role-playing gamebook written by Steve Jackson, illustrated by John Sibbick, originally published in 1984 by Penguin Books and later by Puffin Books, and is the second book in the Sorcery! epic. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It was unnumbered in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14006-794-9), but is 11th in the modern Wizard series (ISBN 1-84046-430-5). Creation The book was dedicated to John Blanche "...for bringing a world to life". Background '''Blurb Kharé — Cityport of Traps begins with the player standing outside the gate of the city of Kharé - Cityport of Traps, a fortified city and the only way to cross the Jabaji River. While passing through this dangerous city, the player must locate the four lines of the spell which will open the Northern Gate and allow passage out of the city and into the Baklands. There are several routes through the city and a wide variety of locations to visit and situations in which one may become entangled. The opponents that the player character have to fight are fairly few, including a powerful Deathwraith that requires all the reserves of strength and luck of the player to beat. Rules The book in general follows the original rules set down in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. (see Game System) Unique Rules *The introductory rules offer the reader a choice of a "simple" (where no magic is used and fights are run according to standard Fighting Fantasy combat) or an "advanced" game (which relies heavily on magic). *The player has a series of magic spells that can be used, each costing between 1 and 4 stamina points. *The player may also call upon the help of Libra - the goddess of justice once in the adventure (she may not be called upon again till the events of The Seven Serpents). In calling on her the player may ask for Revitalization (restoration of skill, stamina, or luck points to their Initial level; Escape which allows you (when the text offers it) to escape a situation; or Removal of Curses and Diseases which can take place at any time and removal all curses or diseases that the player labours under at the time. Equipment List The list below is what the player begins with if they start this book having not played The Shamutanti Hills, otherwise they begin the adventure with what they had left over from the end of that book: *Sword *Backpack *20 gold pieces *2 Provisions Covers and Illustrations Covers The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by John Blanche. When the book was republished by Wizard the cover was re-worked by Mel Grant. #Price of 1st Impression (published by Penguin Books) #Price of 3rd Impression (published by Puffin Books and incorporating The Sorcery Spell Book) #In Warlock Magazine Issue 1 there is an image of a cover of Kharé - Cityport of Traps that was never released. The back cover of this issue of Warlock Magazine was an advert for the Sorcery! series of gamebooks. It showed the cover of Khare - Cityport of Traps with no number on it at all. It is shown along with The Sorcery Spell Book and The Shamutanti Hills and it is pre the Adventure Gamebooks banner. Although the first book, The Shamutanti Hills was first published with a wrap around cover and had no number on its front, the first edition of Khare - Cityport of Traps did have the number on it as a number 2 in a corner triangle. Therefore the advert has a cover that was never released. Illustrations Intertextual References Other Media d20 System Conversion There is a D20 System conversion by Myriador called Sorcery 2: Kharé - Cityport of Traps. Main Characters Further Notes *The Sorcery! series originally began publication under the main Penguin Books brand rather than the Puffin imprint. See Also *''Appointment with F.E.A.R.'' *''Clash of the Princes'' *''Creature of Havoc'' *''Fighting Fantasy'' *''Fighting Fantasy - The Introductory Role-playing Game'' *''House of Hell'' *''Sorcery!'' *''Starship Traveller'' *''The Citadel of Chaos'' *''The Riddling Reaver'' *''The Warlock of Firetop Mountain'' External Links *Character Sheet 2 Category:Sorcery 2 Entries Category:1984 books Category:Article stubs 11 02